President Donald Trump’s relationship with the game of golf and his frequent rounds with the sport’s top players has been a point of contention for opponents of the Commander-in-Chief, but one person Trump couldn’t have expected to receive criticism from was LPGA Tour star Suzann Pettersen.
In an all-encompassing interview prior to the start of her 2018 season, Pettersen told Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang that Trump “cheats like hell.”
LPGA’s Suzann Pettersen: Trump Cheats Like Hell at Golf, But I Love Him! https://t.co/CERrVneCcl
— TMZ (@TMZ) January 30, 2018
GolfChannel.com had more from Pettersen.
Donald Trump has played with several prominent professional golfers since becoming President of the United States, and all have been complimentary of his game.
But leave it to Suzann Pettersen to offer a more frank take.
“He cheats like hell,” Pettersen is quoted as saying in Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang. “So I don’t know how he is in business. They say if you cheat at golf, you cheat at business.
“I’m pretty sure he pays his caddie well, since no matter how far into the woods he hits the ball, it’s in the middle of the fairway when we get there.”
Pettersen on Tuesday afternoon sent a tweet calling the article “#fakenews” and took to Facebook to offer her sentiments.
Pettersen has known the president for more than a decade – “I don’t know anyone who digs himself more than he does,” she said, according to the paper – and she told the outlet that the two have kept in touch since Trump’s election. But while they are friendly, Pettersen was clear that she doesn’t always agree with his politics.
“I’m not a supporter of what he says or stands for,” she said. “I thought it was very strange during the presidential campaign that he wasn’t smarter about how he communicated.”
Pettersen was one of several pros to send a social media congratulations to Trump following his election. She said that he appears to be the same person now as he was when they were regular playing partners: “He has not changed five millimeters since becoming president.”
But as for that purported 3 handicap?
“He always says he is the world’s best putter. But in all the times I’ve played him, he’s never come close to breaking 80,” she is quoted as saying.
“But what’s strange is that every time I talk to him he says he just golfed a 69, or that he set a new course record or won a club championship some place. I just laugh.”
Despite a pretty thorough dressing down of the President, Pettersen took to her Facebook to voice her displeasure with the way the story was reported and her words were misconstrued.
Pettersen now doesn’t really seem to be saying she was misquoted, more that she wishes people would read the whole article. To which I would say yeah… same. pic.twitter.com/gajAPMuDyd
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) January 30, 2018
As for the writer of the piece, Robert Simsø, he told Golf.com that he stands by his story, he quoted Pettersen correctly and has a recording of the interview to prove it.
Talked to @RobSimso, co-author of the Suzann Pettersen piece. He said:
“We of course stand by all the quotes in the story. I always use a tape recorder in interviews, and this time was no exception.”https://t.co/ICeh4vK6tq
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) January 30, 2018
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